Karen H. Rothenberg is a highly motivated and accomplished
female community leader, not only does she work hard at improving social
policy but she takes action “to educate the next generation of leaders
on issues as diverse as public health, homeland security, environmental
protection, criminal justice, corporate governance, tobacco control, technology
and economic development, and women, leadership and equality.”1
Her desires to make positive social changes have led her to her current
position as the Dean and Marjorie Cook Professor of Law at the University
of Maryland Law School where she feels comfortable addressing the intersecting
issues of medicine, science, and the law.2
Dean Rothenberg strives for balance in her objectives; she acts as a strong
leader while at the same time investing in her community as an educator
and activist for improved social policy with a large working focus on genetic
issues, both male and female of all ages.

“Historically a trailblazer, Dean Rothenberg
was a member of the first graduating class of women at Princeton University,
where she received both her B.A., magna cum laude, and M.P.A. from the
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (1973).”3
After this enormous accomplishment, Rothenberg went on to earn her Master
of Public Affairs degree at Princeton (1974) and later her Juris Doctorate
from the University of Virginia Law School (UVA) (1979). She was
an Order of the Coif graduate from UVA and started her career in law with
the Washington D.C. law firm of Covington and Burling, a nationally established
firm.4

In 1983, Rothenberg resigned from the law firm and
accepted an offer to teach law at the University of Maryland Law School.
When the university first recruited Rothenberg, she had a vision in mind
to unite her specialty in law with the surrounding healthcare institutions.
She said in an interview about accepting the position, “If I could do something
to get all these schools to work together, I might be interested.”5
Rothenberg joined the faculty and was quickly promoted from assistant professor
to associate and soon after to full professor, primarily focusing on healthcare
issues. With a motive to educate and make positive changes, Rothenberg
quickly found that there was a desire by the student body and the University
for a new healthcare program in the law school. She now takes credit
as the founding director of the Law and Healthcare program at the University
of Maryland Law School, which is currently ranked number two nationally
by U.S. News and World Report.6
As a woman, she also challenges feminine social policy issues that lack
egalitarian application. This motive led Rothenberg to leave the
Law and Health Care Program at the University to work at the National Institute
of Health (NIH) in the Office of Research on Women’s Health from September
1995 to May 1996, a nationally committed organization to the improvement
of policy on women’s health.7
Once she returned to her law school, she remained on various national healthcare
committees concerned with the ethics and research of genetics and human
development, which has moved her to coordinate on legislative approaches
for social policy change and testify before Congress.8
She also won the Joseph Healey Health Law Teachers Award from the American
Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics in 1996.

After teaching in the health care program for nearly
seventeen years, the University of Maryland Law School offered Karen Rothenberg
the position of Dean in 2000. Professor C. Christopher Brown, a faculty
peer, commented on her new appointment, “a very good choice. Karen’s
very personable and approachable and she’s excellent with people…she also
has the ability to bridge the various factions in the faculty…the law school’s
reputation is being advanced by its specialty programs and her health law
clinic background is a natural fit.”9
As the first female to head the law school in its 185-year history, Rothenberg
feels comfortable with leading and improving the law school; she says,
“Teaching is about finding what someone is passionate about and giving
them the tools they need to realize that…”10
At the time of her appointment, she was “one of about twenty female law
school deans in the country.”11
As a female dean, she avidly supports women’s opportunity and encourages
their leadership roles. Dean Rothenberg participates in the law school’s
Women, Leadership, and Equality Program where she “supports the mentoring
of women law school students to develop the leadership skills for success
in public service, the judiciary, law firms, higher education, business
and nonprofit organizations.”12
As of 2007 U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Maryland
Law School at thirty six in the nation, an improvement from its rank of
fifty in 2001, for which Dean Rothenberg is greatly responsible.13

Today, she considers her role as a community leader
important, whereas, she strives for not only the best for her students
and faculty but for the improvement of public social policy on a national
level as well. She has written and continues to write numerous and
diverse scholarly articles on issues such as “AIDS, women’s health, genetics,
right to forego treatment, emergency care, and the new reproductive technologies.”14
Rothenberg has co-edited a book, Women and Prenatal Testing: Facing
the Challenges of Genetic Technology, and has been published in several
academic journals including Science and Journal of Health Care
Law and Policy.

Next to Rothenberg’s public role as a leader, mentor,
and national health advocate, she ardently enjoys her family life.
She says, “I am most proud of my loving family. With my husband’s
patience, love, and support, we have raised two wonderful daughters who
share great values and a strong sense of community.”15
For over twenty years, Rothenberg has successfully balanced a career with
her family and advocacy for healthcare. Next to her numerous public
achievements, her actions are a testament of her ideals and values which
make her an excellent role model to contemporary young women.

Notes:

1. “Maryland’s Top 100 Women-2006-Karen
H. Rothenberg,” Maryland Daily Record. http://www.mddailyrecord.com/events.cfm?fuseaction=eventDetail&eventID=5&winnerID=137&pageContent=winnerBio
(Accessed June21, 2007). return to text2. Michael Hill, “All the
DNA; The Dean of The University of Maryland’s School of Law Says Society
Should be Working on Ways to Protect People from Discrimination Base on
Genetic Information; QnA—Karen Rothenberg,” The Baltimore Sun. February
7, 2007, final edition. return to text3. Karen H. Rothenberg,
“Dean Karen Rothenberg Inducted into Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame,” University
of Maryland Law School. http://www.law.umaryland.edu/faculty/krothenberg/deans_message.asp
(Accessed June 11, 2007). return to text4. Karen H. Rothenberg,
“A Message From Dean Karen Rothenberg,” University of Maryland Law School.
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/faculty/krothenberg/deans_message.asp (Accessed
June 11, 2007). return to text5. Michael Hill, “A ‘Sense
of Obligation’; Blending: The New Dean of the University of Maryland Law
School has a History of Bringing Students from Different Departments Together,”
The Baltimore Sun. April 13, 2007. return to text6. “Law Specialties: Healthcare
Law,” U.S. News and World Report, USNews.com, (Accessed June 22,
2007). return to text7. Michael Hill, “All
the DNA; The Dean of The University of Maryland’s School of Law Says Society
Should be Working on Ways to Protect People from Discrimination Base on
Genetic Information; QnA—Karen Rothenberg,” The Baltimore Sun. February
7, 2007, final edition. return to text8. “Protecting Workers from
Genetic Discrimination,” Testimony of Karen H. Rothenberg, JD, MPA, Presented
before the House Committee on Education and Labor, Subcommittee on Health,
Employment, Labor, and Pensions. January 30, 2007. http://www.geneticalliance.org/ksc_assets/publicpolicy/hr493hearingrothenbergtestimony.pdf
(Accessed June 21, 2007). return to text9. Joe Surkiewicz,
Undocumented title, The Daily Record (Baltimore, MD). April 7, 2000.
return
to text10. Michael Hill, “A ‘Sense
of Obligation’; Blending: The New Dean of the University of Maryland Law
School has a History of Bringing Students from Different Departments Together,”
The
Baltimore Sun. April 13, 2007. return to text11. Ibid. rerturn
to text12. “Maryland’s Top 100 Women-2006-Karen
H. Rothenberg,” Maryland Daily Record. return to texthttp://www.mddailyrecord.com/events.cfm?fuseaction=eventDetail&eventID=5&winnerID=137&pageContent=winnerBio
(Accessed June21, 2007). return to text13. “Top Law Schools,”
U.S.
News and World Report, USNews.com (Accessed June 22, 2007).
return
to text14. “Karen H. Rothenberg-Profile-University
of Maryland Law School,” University of Maryland Law School. http://www.law.umaryland.edu/faculty_profile.asp?facultynum=103
(Accessed March 7, 2007). return to text15. “Maryland’s Top 100
Women-2006-Karen H. Rothenberg,” Maryland Daily Record. http://www.mddailyrecord.com/events.cfm?fuseaction=eventDetail&eventID=5&winnerID=137&pageContent=winnerBio
(Accessed June21, 2007). return to text

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